You Already Will
by mar-isu
Summary: Anakin Skywalker lives through the end of ROTJ. Multiple chapters in the works. Read respond.
1. The Death of Vader

You Already Will

Disclaimer: In _Star Wars_ George Lucas is God. I'm just the minor deity who has taken what he made and rearranged it for your enjoyment. If anyone gets paid for this, it is definitely _not_ the author. Mar'isu is mine, but she's the only one.

Author's note: This is AU on just about every level, but you already knew that from the summary. To those with the belief that Anakin and Vader are one and the same person, you will be sorely disappointed. Be prepared to treat them as two people with the same body, nothing more. Thanks to everybody who reviewed my other stuff, keep talking to me, I'm listening.

**Chapter 1: The Death of Vader**

"You already have, Luke," Anakin Skywalker whispered to his weeping son. "You were right . . . you were right about me . . . Tell your sister . . . you . . . were . . . right." With those final words he died. Mustering all his strength, Luke dragged his father to the last remaining shuttle and left. Halfway through planet fall, Luke sensed a brief flicker of consciousness from the general direction of Darth Vader. When he reached out through the Force to confirm it, though, he encountered nothing. Returning his attention to piloting, he was surprised to see Ben Kenobi in the co-pilot's seat.

"You've done well, Luke," the Jedi told him. "Now all that remains to be seen is if Anakin will live up to your expectations for him."

"Uh, Ben? I hate to burst your bubble, but Anakin's dead," Luke informed his mentor.

Obi-Wan gave his former pupil an enigmatic smile. "Are you so sure about that?" Startled by the insinuation, Luke let the shuttle crash-land as he ran to the back to tend to his father. When he replaced Anakin's mask, the suck-hiss of the respirator resumed immediately, a soothing sound accompanied by a mental caress from Anakin. Luke vowed then that Anakin would never again come to harm because of him.

"Luke!" Leia burst out of Han's arms as the shuttle crashed through the canopy of the forest, barely missing the Ewok village. She ran blindly toward the wreckage leaping tree branches and generally behaving like a squirrel in her need to make sure her brother was well. Han followed dead on her heels.

"Leia, no!" he yelled after her, catching her arm in a grip meant to keep her from falling out of the village.

She turned on him with an animal fury and swatted his hand away. "But _Luke's_ on that shuttle!"

"Do you know that for a fact?" He asked critically.

The fire in her eyes blazed even brighter. "Yes I do! I have to get to Luke!" Again she took off at breakneck speed. Han had no choice but to follow her, picking his way carefully where she had, through the grace of the Force, placed unerring feet. The sight of the crash brought her up sharp. Metal shards from hitting one too many tree trunks were scattered through the canopy. Willing herself to be strong enough, Leia tore the shuttle door off its hinges. "Luke!" she yelled. _Please let him live,_ she prayed silently. _Force, don't let him die._

"Leia, here," came the faint cry from the back of the shuttle. She treaded her way through twisted metal toward her brother. Luke was kneeling over the still form of Darth Vader. His face was tear-streaked and he held one of the Dark Lord's hands lovingly in his own.

"Luke are you all right?" she asked with concern as she kneeled on Vader's other side. "He's . . . Is he . . . He's not dead, is he?"

Luke looked up and flashed her a brilliant smile. "Leia, meet Anakin Skywalker, our father."

Even with the mask covering his features, Anakin managed to convey his surprise at the identity of his daughter. "Leia," he purred softly, lifting a metal-clad hand towards her, "my beautiful, beautiful girl."

She jerked back roughly before the gauntlet fouled her skin. "Luke," she growled through clenched teeth, "tell me he's hallucinating; tell me you're hallucinating. Tell me I'm hallucinating just tell me this isn't real. Whatever either of you say, he will never be my father."

"Whoa, whoa, tune back a few kilobits, sweetheart," Han interrupted, ducking under what was left of the doorway. "Let's see if I heard right. He's," Han gestured toward the prone form of Anakin, "your father?"

Leia fled into Han's arms and threw her own around his neck. She started crying against his neck. "It's not like that, Han. I never knew anything about all this. I won't accept it now."

Luke began at the same moment. "It's not like that, Han. He's not the same person; he's changed!"

Han held his hands up for silence. "That's not necessarily a bad thing, you know. I mean, the Emperor's right hand man is on our side now. What could the Empire possibly do to us now?"

Anakin spoke up feeling the sting of his daughter's rejection. "Leia," he rasped, "your lover has accepted me, why can't you?"

Surprisingly, Leia did not react to the statement that Han was her lover. She shrank into Han's chest and he put his strong arms over her neck, trying to protect her from the threat that was her father. "You stood by . . . you forced me to . . . you _watched_ as Alderaan was destroyed. You've almost killed Han, Luke, and me too many times to count. You destroyed everything good in the galaxy. Why can't I accept you? How can't I _not_ accept you?"

Luke started to reply, but his answer was cut off by a wave of Anakin's hand. With difficulty Anakin stood up and took a step toward his daughter. "That was Darth Vader. I am Anakin Skywalker." He explained as if that clarified everything.

"I don't see any difference," Leia hissed, forcing Han to take a step backwards in her attempt to get away from Anakin.

Mara Jade tossed restlessly in bed, her last communication with the Emperor still ringing through her mind. It had been several hours since she'd felt the Emperor's death, rolling through the Force like a shockwave, bowling her over and upsetting her normally iron constitution. Yet even now, she did not dare to close her eyes because she knew that if she did so, she would see it all again. Unwillingly she drifted further and further toward sleep until finally, as she knew it would, she saw it . . .

_Master_, she though toward the wrinkled face which had superimposed itself on her vision, _The Twi'lekk Jedi you foresaw arrived after my report yesterday. She met with a Rebel collaborator and immediately left._

_Why was this collaborator on Imperial Center?_ The Emperor's voice held no accusation. He was only questioning how a Rebel spy had managed to infiltrate the city-planet commonly known as Courouscant.

_My lord, he was only discovered this morning. When I found him he had already taken steps to ensure that I would get no information._ With this statement she pushed across the mental bond a picture of the man as she had found him. He was lying on the floor stone cold, his body contorted as though every muscle had tightened and then frozen into place. She pushed a fair amount of regret at this fact over the bond as well and was rewarded with a brief feeling of approval from her master.

_So be it_, Palpatine's mental voice also included a half-heard muffling of his physical voice. It usually happened when he was multi-tasking. _You will find this Jedi and bring her to me so that I may deal with her. As for the Rebels . . ._ the Emperor's focus changed suddenly and the image that flooded Mara's brain was so crisp and clear she half-believed herself in the throne room of the second Death Star. Vader was dueling with a sandy-haired young man about her own age. She had time to recognize that the young man was holding his own against the Dark Lord before the fight came to a sudden and unheard-of halt. The stranger nodded his head in response to some sort of mental communication and deactivated his lightsaber. Meanwhile, Lord Vader turned and began lumbering toward the . . . the _Emperor_.

"No!" Mara screamed trying to run toward her master. But the air itself was like jelly and it prevented her from getting any closer to Palpatine. Horrified, she watched as Palpatine lifted his hands and sent blue-white energy bolts through both Vader and the stranger. The stranger dropped like a rock and began to convulse. Vader kept coming. Desperate, Palpatine diverted most of the energy bolts towards Vader. Out from under the worst of the onslaught, the stranger slowly and painstakingly mastered his muscles and joined Vader as the Dark Lord came up even with the throne. Both men raised their sabers, ready to deal the fatal blow.

In the moments before he was cut down, the Emperor stared straight at Mara Jade. Their gazes locked, and his cold, blue eyes seared his final commandment into her brain. _YOU WILL KILL THE SKYWALKER_.

Mara Jade shot upright breathing hard. Her sheets were knotted around her and the holdout blaster that she kept beneath her pillow was cocked and ready in her hand. Nothing moved in her room. Focusing, she brought her breathing back to normal and mopped the sweat off her face with the trailing end of a sheet that had miraculously escaped knotting. She wouldn't be able to sleep tonight, might as well do something useful, like find out who this Skywalker was she was supposed to kill. Warily, she stalked over to the data center in her room and keyed in a request. The computer churned and squawked an indignant request for patience while it processed her query. Mara sighed, this could take a while.

The insistent beeping of the data center called Mara out of her light doze. Well, well, this was interesting. Darth Vader was Anakin Skywalker before the Empire came into power. Mara waved over a brief reference to a son, her purpose clear. She was supposed to kill Vader. Easier said than done, but Mara Jade was the Emperor's Hand, she didn't say, she just did.

Luke didn't attend the Ewok celebration that night. Concerned about her brother, Leia searched him out. She found him in the village's make-shift workshop intent on fusing Anakin's respirator to a gutted suit of stormtrooper armor. He was so focused on his work that he didn't notice when she walked up beside him and perched on the counter-top next to him.

Luke why are you doing this?" she asked, needing to understand what drove her brother to be so loving toward the one who had cost them so much. "I mean, think of all he's done to us, to you." She picked up the black glove that he had worn ever since their little adventure to free Han on Tatooine. Luke hadn't wanted the medics and engineers worrying over what he said was ultimately a cosmetic blemish in his artificial hand. So he'd worn the tight leather glove and never said anything about taking a blaster bolt to the hand. Now that glove was lying unheeded next to her brother and she watched the pistons and cranks in his mechanical hand shift and dance as he manipulated the cast-off armor. The blackened bits of synthflesh that still clung to the burn stretched and cracked as he moved his hand. She brushed the wound with the back of her hand and looked at him, her eyes begging the answer to her question.

Luke sighed and took her hand in his artificial one, putting down his work to turn toward her. "He's our _father_, Leia, and no one will acknowledge him if he still looks like Vader. You won't even accept him as Anakin. Vader is dead, Leia, and Anakin is alive and wants to help us. Will we accept his help while he's still hidden by his mask?" Luke looked around at the techs and assistants scurrying around repairing machinery for Alliance use. "Most of us have code names here." He fixed her with a pleading gaze. "Wouldn't it be refreshing, just for once, to see someone as he truly is rather than as we imagine him to be?"

"But Luke . . ." she began.

"He killed the Emperor, Leia, the _Emperor_, his _Master_, his ruler. What greater proof do you want that he's changed?"

"He may have killed the Emperor," Leia murmured, "but what about all those innocent souls on Alderaan?" She hopped off the counter and began to leave, but Luke called her back.

"Leia," he called, holding out a small silver cylinder. "Here. I thought we could spar some time, just the two of us. Then maybe, later, we can add Anakin into the fight. Either way this is yours."

Leia took the weapon gently, staring wide-eyed at the innocent looking device, knowing full well what it was. She gingerly touched the little red activation button. A pale amethyst blade sprouted from the cylinder, humming gently with every movement. An easy swing of the wrist brought the blade full circle in a pattern she'd seen Luke do a million times. A dark thought crept into her brain; she could mortally injure someone with this blade of light. Hurriedly she shut down the lightsaber and pressed the hilt back into Luke's hand.

Luke chuckled slightly, but became serious when he saw the panicked fear in her eyes. "Don't worry, Leia" he assured her, "You can't kill anything with this. It'll slice through metal if given enough time, and it'll give you a nasty red welt if you touch it, but it won't kill." To prove his point, he ran the fingers of his real hand through the blade. Leia gasped and tried to pull his hand away from the weapon's edge, but stopped when she saw them emerge on the other side, intact, if red and irritated. Luke closed his eyes and took several deep breaths, allowing the Force to heal the self-inflicted injuries. Red faded to pink, which vanished into normal skin tones. Then he opened his eyes and smiled sweetly at Leia. "See? No harm done." He put the lightsaber back into her right hand and closed her fingers around it.

It took a while for the knowledge that this was a safe practice lightsaber to sink in, but when it did, Leia jumped into a bone-crushing hug with her brother. Equally exhilarated, Luke lifted her off the ground and spun around before letting her go. "Thank you, Luke," she breathed in his ear, finally releasing him. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

Luke shrugged expressively, "It was Anakin's idea." He explained.

Luke stood perfectly still as the toothed jaws of the hyperbaric chamber closed around him. There was a hiss as oxygen was pumped into the chamber. Luke's vision became hypersensitive, the small amount of ambient light reflecting blindingly off the white walls. His hearing picked up the harsh rasp of lungs seared to the brink of non-function behind the unbearably loud sounds of the respirator. The antiseptic smell of the chamber choked him. Even his connection with the Force seemed hyperalert. Luke could almost see the ebb and flow of ethereal energy through and around himself and Anakin. But it didn't take long before his body got used to breathing air that had double the usual amount of oxygen and pressure, putting an end to the disturbing sensations.

Once his son stopped quivering with the oxygen high, Anakin moved. Reaching up, he removed the back portion of his helmet. He then turned to Luke who helped him remove the rest of the mask. "Thank you, son," Anakin rumbled, not in the cold, impersonal way he'd called Luke "son" before, but in a warm inviting tome which promised a long future of bonding. "It did not seem right to go to the Rebels while I was still Vader in their eyes. Now at least I have a chance. Let us begin."

They removed the left arm coverings first. Carefully, so as to not break any of the vital components, Luke removed the black gauntlet. He gently placed each piece on the deck of the chamber before thinking about the next. By the time Luke had finished his task, Anakin had expertly stripped the rest of his arm bare. Luke knelt, coming level with his father's arm and scooped up the left arm of the white suit he'd spent last night molding and fusing. He breathed deeply, trying to steady himself for the final test of his skill as a mechanic. Each component needed to support Anakin's failing frame, without hindering his motion. Luke looked at his father, for the signal to continue. Anakin was staring down at his exposed arm, still-remembered pain clouding his eyes. Concerned, Luke followed his line of sight and almost choked in horror. Anakin's face was beautiful in its own way. Despite that fact that it was pasty-white from lack of any light at all and crisscrossed by deep scars, there was something inherently lovely about its features. Anakin's arm was nothing if not hideous. From mid-forearm on down it was nothing but scar tissue drawn gaunt over bone. Wires and metal rods protruded from the chalk-white tissue at several points, some of which Luke recognized as being surrogate nerve endings and rotational points. Above the scarring though, there was no flesh. Bleached bone peeped out at them from among numerous sensors, pistons and durasteel support structures.

_A lightsaber slashed toward his head, he ducked, barely enough to avoid decapitation, taking a glancing blow to the back of his skull nonetheless. He jumped backwards, too quickly. The edge of the pit was too close. Just as he fell, he looked into Obi-Wan's eyes, and saw the sorrow in them. _I'll make you sorry, "Master" don't worry. You only have yourself to blame,_ he thought as the boiling rock engulfed him bodily and equally hot rage engulfed his mind._

"Luke," Anakin's voice pulled them both away from the accursed memory, "Lava is nothing to play with, and a friend never deserves betrayal."

"How did it come to that?" Luke asked fighting the idea that Obi-Wan and Anakin had ever been at odds.

"Many ways," Anakin answered taking the suit arm from his unmoving son and snapping it into place himself. "Each one as false and wrong as the last. Many words. Many quarrels. Anger on both sides over many lies told and implied. Too many rules broken. Too many hearts broken. Too many levels of trust that would never again be whole. Everyone made mistakes; everyone fell a little. I just never had the courage to come back."

"You've come back now," Luke assured him, helping Anakin strip the right arm of its coverings. Thankfully, Anakin's right arm was long gone before he was scarred beyond recognition. Anakin snapped the right gauntlet off as well.

"Have I?" he asked his son, fear filling his eyes.

"Of course you have," Luke looked his father full in the face letting his hands attach the new suit without engaging his mind. "The first time I saw you, I felt the good in you. Even with the pain of loosing a mentor," Anakin flinched at the oblique reference to his final duel with Obi-Wan, "I knew I couldn't fully hate you," Luke pushed on working the arm coverings on and Anakin's black boots off at the same time. "I felt conflict, and I felt pain, but I always knew there was a chance for good. I knew my father could come back. Now he has."

"You comfort me, Luke," Anakin whispered, tears threatening in his eyes. He pulled his chest plate off as Luke finished with the legs of his suit. "The last person I allowed to comfort me was your mother." The tears finally came, rivers of sorrow washing away years of evil. Luke snapped the new chest and back plates into position. Then he kept his arms around Anakin as his father sobbed on his shoulder. "Oh, Padmé, Padmé what have I done? What have I done to us all?" Anakin groaned.

_In the garage of the Lars home, a twenty year old boy wept for grief and remorse as the one woman left in the universe that he loved held him and whispered comfort._

_The same woman, older, wiser and expecting a child, wrapped her arms around him. "Anakin, there is still hope. There is still a chance. Things don't have to be this way, and you know we can make it right."_

_"There's never been a chance, Padm" he replied. "It was a dream that we could keep this secret, any of this," he felt the tears stinging his eyes. "I can't fix this, Padmé. I don't know what to do."_

_The woman hugged him for the last time, holding him tight as the tears began to flow down both their faces. "Whatever you do, Anakin," she whispered in his ear, "remember. I love you. I will always love you. There is nothing you can do that will make me stop loving you. Many things will change soon, Ani, but my caring for you will remain, no matter what."_

"She was beautiful. She was an angel, and I drove her away." Anakin had poured out his life to his son, everything he regretted, everything that he wished he could change. Luke was drowning in the emotional backwash of memories and words and tears. But the torrent was slowing, and Anakin's choking gasps were ebbing. Finally everything was calm. "You must think less of me for such a scene," Anakin commented regretfully to his son.

"No," Luke told him, "I think more of you. Remorse is the only way to wash off the stain of the Dark Side. Vader, and the past that goes with him are dead. You have nothing to hide."

As if to prove his point, Luke held out the helmet he had made. Gone was the impersonal black lacquer that had denied the human in Darth Vader. Anakin Skywalker would see out of a clear plate with his own eyes, and would in turn be seen for the man he was. Luke set the face plate on the neck of the suit, making sure that voice pickups and breathing aides were all in their appointed place. It all fit perfectly. Relieved, Luke picked up the final piece in Anakin's new armor. Little more than a modified stormtroooper's helmet, the piece, nevertheless constituted a vital link. If it did not create an air-tight seal, Anakin would have to live in the hyperbaric chamber until one could be found to suit his needs. Father and son held their breaths as they lowered the helmet into position. Quiet clicks informed them that the seal was made.

Anakin stood and surveyed himself. "I feel like I'm missing something. Ah, a cape." He smiled at his son and shrugged as if to say, _no matter, I can do without_.

Luke grinned enjoying the chance for a surprise. "We certainly wouldn't want you to feel incomplete." He hit the hatch release for the bubble.

The hiss of decompression caused Leia to stand up. She wore a white gown she had sewn to replace her senate garb, which was close to disintegrating. However, there was still enough materiel holding together to make a decent cape from her old dress. She presented it stiffly to Anakin. Anakin slung the cloth around his shoulders and fastened it into place, wondering if maybe Leia was finally warming up to him.

Leia beat him to the thought. "Listen, Dad," she spat the word out, "I made that cape because _Luke_ asked me to. I did this for _Luke_ not for you. I owe you nothing and all you owe me is a quick trip out of my life so you don't screw it up any further."

Anakin opened his mouth to contend that he had not "screwed up" her life, but a few moments of quiet reflection on the times he had seen his daughter over the last three years forced him to admit, she had a point.

Mara powered up her small headhunter and set a course for the location of the second Death Star, Vader would have to be around there somewhere. It was going to be murder flying where the Emperor had so recently stood, but if she didn't face that aspect now, well, then she deserved to have Palpatine haunting her.

That's all for now, folks. This will be at least 5 chapters long, probably more. Send reviews, please. I need to know what you like, hate and want to see. No guarrantees, but I'll try.


	2. Freinds and Enemies

AN: Thank you to smeagol's preciousss for reviewing. Since this reviewer is still alive you can all safely assume that I don't bite and I have nothing to bark about except the lack of reviews.

**Chapter Two: Friends and Enemies**

Luke and Leia were sparing when the _Freedom's Sister_ landed. Anakin looked on and admired his daughter's progress. Leia was a quick learner and a morning's worth of work had her relying on the Force to tell her where her brother would strike. Combat training of her own told her where his defenses were weak and if she wasn't exactly holding her own against Luke, she would be soon. She had built on the bond that had been established at Bespin and could now communicate with Luke voicelessly.

_Ship landing_. Leia's mental touch rang through Luke's mind as they continued to slash and parry. Her voice in his head was clear and crisp, like a meadow after a light rain as opposed to his father's resonating voice, which reminded Luke of dawn coming to a deep canyon.

_I feel it,_ he replied, subtly showing Leia how to get more complicated messages across. _The pilot is strong in the Force._ He abruptly cut the spar short, receiving a small open sore where Leia followed through with her last slash. They both turned toward the ship. A petite Twi'lekk leapt nimbly from the single-man ship, careful to keep her hood over her head. She crouched as she ran, glancing tentatively from side to side and testing the Force in a way that made it clear she feared pursuit. Anakin stood when he saw her and began to meet her halfway.

_You know her?_ Luke asked his father.

In response, Anakin sent an image. _The Jedi Council a few days before Vader began his persecution Most in attendance were holographs from far star systems where the war had sent them, but a few were there in person. Sitting with them was a Jedi Master, her face younger, but unmistakably the same woman that was now approaching them. She looked sad, but serene her expressive eyes were calm and still. The same woman not much later. She was no longer calm and her grief could be seen clearly. She fought with a first-person opponent bearing a red lightsaber. Vader._ The images were disturbingly distant. Anakin was thinking and referring to the actions of Vader in the third person, as if Vader were a faceless and frightening enemy rather than an equally frightening depth in his own soul.

The woman came closer. At this range, Luke could see under the hood to the bright, almost fiery red skin beneath. She was a rare color for Twi'lekks, the particular shade being a combination of parentage and early or prolonged exposure to the particularly harsh sun over Letha, a small sun-side continent on the planet of Ryloth. Her emerald-green eyes contrasted beautifully with her skin. She was small and well muscled right down to the tips of her lekku as only Twi'lekk dancers could be. Although he could not see them beneath her hood, Luke knew her lekku were expressive, even sensuous in a serpentine fashion. The thing that caught and held Luke's attention, however, was the double lightsaber that bumped slightly against right thigh with every crouching step. She noticed them watching and straightened. Her hands slipped into her voluminous sleeves and the two cuffs seemed to merge into one continuous cloth. Through and obvious act of will, her eyes stopped darting in all directions like those of a prey animal.

Anakin took a step toward her, "Master Mar'isu," he greeted her, bowing from the waist. Each of his hands clasped the wrist of the other, effectively giving the impression of an Old Republic Knight greeting a Jedi Master. As he began to straighten, Mar'isu caught onto his shoulders in a lightning quick move, putting all her tiny strength and powerful will into keeping him there. Only the face plate of Anakin's armor kept their foreheads from touching as their eyes locked gazes.

Leia winced as Mar'isu's nails screeched along the plates covering Anakin's upper arms. "If that were flesh, she would have drawn blood," she muttered to her brother.

Luke didn't answer. When Mar'isu grabbed Anakin, her hood fell back from head. Instead of two lekku, she only had one lek. On the right side of her head was the stump of a lek that had been severed.

Mar'isu stared long and hard into Anakin's eyes. She seemed to be searching his face for something she was afraid to find. At last she spoke, a soft, quiet and above all serious voice. Yet no mater how low she spoke, she would be heard, that much was clear. She had the lilting accent of her people and the assurance of a well taught aristocrat. "Vader is dead; that is good Ana'kin."

Anakin rose back to his full height as she released her grip. He nodded. "It is good to see that Vader's life work remains unfinished. Are there any other Jedi still alive? I wish to make amends."

Mar'isu thought back. She had watched Vader slaughter Yaddle and her own Padawan in the same battle in which she had lost her lek. Only Obi-Wan had saved her from death. "Obi'Wan?" she guessed aloud, "last I knew he was headed off to some hermitage on a desert world. We all tried to convince him to stay on Coruscant, but he said it would be dangerous, that he had too many secrets to keep. He could have -"

The haunted look in Anakin's eyes stopped her. "My former Master is no longer with us," he said pain audible in every word, "Vader killed him."

Mar'isu nodded solemnly, refusing to ask where when or why. Anakin's grief was true enough. He regretted killing Obi-Wan and that alone kept her from prying. Mentally, she scanned the Jedi council, a body that had accepted her as a member only two days before Vader forced them to disband. There was Mace Windu who, for all his mastery of the Force and the lightsaber, was not strong enough to resist Vader. Ki-Adi-Mundi, whose second heart had failed him some years back. One by one all the Council Members had fallen before the chances of fate and Vader's assault. All save one. "Yoda," she said looking up. "He would be the only Council Member left alive. He must be living, he could survive anything." Even among the senior Jedi Masters, who had seen Yoda walking about leaning on his gimmer stick and frail looking, Yoda's extreme old age and wisdom lent him an aura of immortality. The legends of his youth were epic and grand, filled with feats that only the strongest of Jedi could accomplish and his endurance was a well established fact.

"Not even he," Luke whispered drawing attention to himself. He looked up into Anakin's eyes. "Yoda died of old age a few days ago, Father. He held on long enough for me to see him again before he died. He was the one who sent me to face you again. He said I would never be a true Jedi until I did."

Mar'isu nodded toward Luke, noticing a welt on his bare chest as she did so. "You are hurt." It was not a simple observation. Luke started to protest, but she stopped him with a hand. A Force-scan of his physical condition caused her to wrinkle her brow in concern. "There are hurts here that you will have to heal. Greater hurt than another could relieve, but this," she indicated the lightsaber wound, "this I can deal with." Gently, she ran two fingers along the wound. Under her touch the redness and swelling diminished. Luke gasped inwardly. He hadn't seen skin fold over a wound like that since he'd himself and Leia with the Kaiburr Crystal. He looked into Mar'isu's eyes. The corners of her mouth curved into mischievous smile. Her gaze flickered to her lightsaber. Looking down, Luke noticed, for the first time, the faintly glowing red stones set into the hilt, shards of a precious stone that was lost now to all.

Anakin, who was still in his own little world, continued. "Then as far a as we know, there are only four Force-sensivtives left in the galaxy." The sadness in his face broke everyone's heart. He really hadn't realized that Vader had been that thorough. Surely other Jedi had escaped as well, and he wished to all the powers in the universe that they would reveal themselves someday. He didn't blame them for hiding, just wished they would be a little quicker to realize the threat was over. But if wishes were water, Tatooine would be an ocean and the Jedi Order he knew had been terrible swimmers.

Mar'isu frowned slightly, her lek wriggling in confusion. "Forgive, Ana'kin," she said her uncertainty evident in the heavier accent, "but I only know of three. You, myself and the boy."

Anakin let a hand fall on Luke's shoulder. "Luke Skywalker is my son," he proudly informed her of the obvious fact. "My daughter, Leia is also Force-sensitive."

Leia's face colored slightly whether from embarrassment or anger at not being introduced immediately was not certain. She stepped foreword and curtsied as Mar'isu bowed to her.

"Leeyaor'gana," the Twi'lekk addressed the Rebellion leader. "Forgive. It was you I truly came to see. I came to inform you that the Emperor ordered the Imperial fleet to mass around the Death Star, and that the Death Star was operational but," she gestured to the sky indicating, by extension, the debris in orbit about the sanctuary moon, "I come too late."

Leia gave her a bright, diplomatic smile. "We appreciate your effort, and my name is Leia."

Mar'isu shook her head he lek wiplashing violently. "Oh no, Leeyaor'gana, your name is too beautiful to turn into meaningless syllables. Your name as I say it means "strong beauty". Leiaor'gana means nothing."

Leia smiled again, a true smile this time. "Leeya, then."

Anakin cleared his throat and spoke up now that formal exchanges were finished. It was a bit awkward asking this of a woman who still hated his guts, but if Mar'isu was correct, then there was no time to lose. "I have a favor to ask you, Leia. I want you to train as a Jedi. If there are only four Force-sensitives left in the galaxy, then every one of them needs to be fully trained."

"You didn't care about that when you were murdering Jedi babies in their crèche," Leia shot back, instantly regretting her words when she saw the pain in both Anakin's and Luke's expressions.

"Please, Leia," her father begged.

Mar'isu perhaps more in tune with Leia, since she was a female, bowed to Leia and put her arm around her shoulders, no easy task since Leia was a good three centimeters taller. "Your father is right Leeyaor'gana, you must be trained." She tilted her head in a quizzical manner, "It would not be so difficult training under me, would it? It is long since I had a Padawan. Soon I will be too old to teach and then all my knowledge that I have gained over my long life will be lost."

Leia gave Anakin a sideways glance. "If the alternative is training under him, no it would not be so difficult."

A loud cracking of twigs from the forest caused them all to spin around. Five lightsaber blades hummed into existence as an athletic red-head stepped from the forest.

..........................................

Mara Jade approached the clearing with practiced stealth. She had landed her Headhunter in the clearing blasted by the destruction of the shield generator and hiked the rest of the way. Voices in the clearing made her freeze in her tracks. She reached out with a tentative Force probe. Since the Emperor died, her Force powers had been waning, and she hesitated to trust them. There were four people in the clearing ahead. She would recognize Vader's Force signature anywhere. One was a nonhuman. Two others. A man and woman, but their Force-signatures were eerily familiar and disturbingly similar. So like each other. So like Vader, so close. Family. Vader had family?

Mara shook the confusing tangle from her thoughts and edged closer. The Twi'lekk Jedi that she had tracked on Coruscant was there. As was Leia Organa and the blonde man who haunted her dreams. And standing nearby with a proprietary hand on the stranger's shoulder was Vader. She knew it was Vader from his Force-signature despite the fact that she could see his face, a pasty-white lattice of scars, and that his armor had been replaced by what looked disturbingly like rewelded stormtrooper armor. Mara grinned in predatory delight. _Good,_ she thought, _I can kill Vader now and take the rest back to Palpatine. He will be so pleased that I've caught Organa . . ._ The thought ended as reality caught up with her. She couldn't take them back to Palpatine; Palpatine was dead. The half heard conversation also finally registered. The Twi'lekk had just asked Leia to be her Padawan because Leia's father was right. Mara's mind kicked into overdrive. Leia Organa was Force-sensitive, a newly discovered Jedi just beginning her training. The cascade of deductions continued. Leia's adoptive father was dead on Alderaan, and the only man there old enough to be a father was Vader. Thought slowed as the realization that Vader and Leia's father were one and the same person bubbled to the surface. Vader had a daughter? That mechanical monstrosity had actually managed to get a woman pregnant?

Mara's smile returned with a devious edge. Killing Anakin Skywalker now would strike a blow deep into the heart of the Rebellion. Not only would she remove the Rebellion's most specific knowledge of the Empire, but she would also cripple their leader with grief over her father's death. Her common sense stopped her from shooting Skywalker then and there. With her ship a good day's hike from here, there was no way she could kill Vader and clear the planet before they shot her down. Driven Mara Jade might be, but she didn't have a death wish. "Swiftly, Silently and Above Suspicion." The slogan her instructors had drummed into her head from the time she was old enough to understand it suddenly seemed at war with itself. There was no way she could kill Skywalker silently. But she could either opt for Swiftly or Above Suspicion. Finally Above Suspicion won out, which meant she needed to gain the trust of four Jedi without revealing that she was there to kill one of them. Taking a moment to set a mental barrier in place that would prevent Vader from reading her thoughts, she stepped forward, cracking every twig in sight to announce her presence. She put on a curious-but-brainless face as lightsabers swung to meet her, getting just a slight surprise when the Twi'lekk Jedi activated both ends of her saber. Playing her role, Mara strode boldly up to Skywalker.

"So, Vader, who were you fooling around with twenty years ago? Anyone I know?" she asked with a significant glance at Organa. She took secret delight when Skywalker flinched away from the sound of his former name.

Organa's lips thinned into a tight line, but she deactivated her lightsaber in the face of this obvious non-threat. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what interest would my father's personal life be to you?" So she admitted her parentage but didn't seem happy about it, interesting.

"I'm a petty dignitary who was kept around court because she was cute. I'm also a one-woman rumor mill," Mara lied putting an annoying amount of pep behind her voice. She held out her hand to Organa and smiled through the introduction. "Name's Jade, Mara."

Organa managed to smile and shake her hand despite the disdain radiating from her. "Mara."

Mara turned to the stranger, putting on the practiced coy face of a courtesan. This guy screamed innocence and would probably take the bait. "I don't want to sound forward or anything, but I've been dreaming about you. What's your name?"

"Luke," the blonde man answered. The way he was staring confirmed that he was hooked and hooked bad. The disdain from Organa quickly blossomed into disgust. That was a good sign. Organa and this Luke were obviously close. If she could gain Luke's trust, she would be in Organa's camp. "You got a last name to go with that, tiger?"

Luke opened his mouth to respond, but Anakin's mental voice cut him off. _Do not tell her you are a Skywalker._

_Why?_

_She lied about who she was. And I do not know why she is here. _Luke took the hint.

"Just call me Luke." He gestured her closer to him and Mara slipped easily into the crook of his arm. A smile played across her lips, she was as good as in.


	3. One Shot

AN: Clarification: In this AU, the Emperor never sent Mara to Jabba's Palace to kill Luke, so she doesn't know who he is. When Mara thinks "Skywalker" or when that name is used alone in the narration, it is meant to refer to Anakin, not Luke. Remember, Mara doesn't know that Luke is Vader's son yet.

Thanks to **K9 the First** and** Lena Breeze** for their kind reviews. Keep talking to me!

**Chapter 3: One Shot**

By chance that night, Mara found Leia alone. The princess was staring off the edge of the Ewok village at everything and nothing in particular. Her legs were crossed under her or they would have been swinging over the edge of the village like a child in a seat far too large for her. She clutched a steaming mug of whatever the locals brewed and occasionally took small sips, more from a habit of politely drinking what she'd been given than out of thirst. Mara shook her head. How had the Rebellion functioned? Someone was going to have to watch these people. They seemed to do an inordinate amount of staring into space.

"So what do you think of your father?" Mara asked, needing no help to sound appropriately curious. The fact that the leaders of the two sides in this war were related struck her as slightly ironic. She still wasn't sure about her reaction to this whole tangle, but that didn't stop her from wanting to sound out Leia's.

"I can't believe he's gone. I mean, you'd think after three years and seeing the planet destroyed that reality would have hit me by now, that I'd be used to it. It hasn't and I'm not. There are times when I feel like I'm just on some extended mission for the Alliance. Maybe I'll get married on that mission; maybe I'll have kids, maybe not, but in the end I'll go home and they'll all be there waiting for me. Mother, Father, my aunts, my friends, everyone. Then I wake up and realize that they don't even exist anymore." Leia looked up at Mara. Her brown eyes were soft and sad, filled with such deep grief that Mara had to pull her emotions back into line. She wanted to hug the princess and console her. She wanted to tell Leia that everything would come right in the end. But Mara was hardened from years of killing at the Emperor's command and if she knew anything for certain, it was that nothing ever came out right in the end. That was another reason to watch these people. If they could make her feel this way, their influence over an innocent stormtrooper would be compelling. Quelling the new emotions she put on a stupid-but-sincere face.

"But your father's here with us." She stated simply.

Leia frowned. "What? Oh _him_," the word dripped with rancor. Interesting reaction. "I refuse to believe that he's my father. I hate him. He should have died on the Second Death Star. He doesn't deserve to live. He destroyed my world." That wasn't the reaction Mara was expecting or hoping to get, but it made sense after all Leia had been through. What didn't make sense was the fact that the rising anger in Leia's manner refused to abate. There was no doubt about it; the princess was furious and getting madder by the minute. If Mara didn't do something to calm her down, her one shot at Skywalker would be taken by his daughter. How was that for irony.

Deciding that misery, or anger for that matter, loves company, Mara sat down next to Leia. "Mine too," she whispered. The vision of her master dying crossed her mind. YOU WILL KILL THE SKYWALKER. Well, after what he'd done to the galaxy he did deserve to die, and never mind that she had orchestrated similar atrocities.

Leia looked at her curiously. "You're Alderaanian?" she asked. Mara gave her a quizzical look and Leia shook her head. "No, you couldn't be. I knew every Alderaanian in Palpatine's court."

"A planet doesn't have to be sterilized for someone to have their world destroyed." Mara told her. "I actually don't know where I'm from; I was brought to Imperial Center as a child. You only get one shot in life, Leia, so you might as well enjoy it. I could have loved living on Imperial Center, but Vader went out of his way to make life a living nightmare for everyone. Palpatine having a bad hair day was painful enough, but Vader just made the whole mess ten times worse." A shiver ran down her back as she remembered cowering in the corner as Vader Force-choked an entire battalion of stormtroopers one by one. She hadn't understood what was going on, but she'd been sure it was her fault. He'd come right over to her afterwards and dragged her back to the Emperor. It was the last time she cried.

"Palpatine had hair?" Leia mused. The two women looked at each other in surprise at the question, then broke into gales of laughter, letting the upsetting emotions and confusing past disappear in the collective vision of the Galactic Emperor with a toupee.

............................................................................

Luke watched Leia and Mara break out in laughter over something. They both looked so beautiful, their faces shining with mirth. Mara especially. The light of the bonfire caught on her hair, sparking the red-gold sheaf into a cascade of glowing fire. Her lips, upturned it what was such a rare smile parted to reveal pearly teeth. Her green eyes shone like his lightsaber, two perfect emeralds filled with living light. "You told me she lied about who she was," he murmured to his father behind him. "So who is she?" He had to know everything about this enchanting stranger.

"Her name truly is Mara Jade," Anakin informed him, "but she was far from being just a petty bureaucrat. She was the Emperor's Hand, an extension of Palpatine in the galaxy. What Palpatine wanted, she wanted, and she knew how to get what she wanted. She was many things, assassin, spy, diplomat on the very rare occasion. I'm not sure, but based on what Vader knew of her missions, I think Palpatine was grooming her to be Empress." He chose his words carefully, Luke was smitten with Mara and while he hoped nothing bad would come from it, he feared she was using him, just to leave his naïve son with a broken heart or worse.

Luke choked on the sickening image of a Mara in a wedding gown facing the decrepit Palpatine. "Why is she here then?" he asked. If she had been that powerful, then by all rights she should still be with the Empire, consolidating her power base, preparing to rule. With her in charge, he knew that the war would end; she was too good for battle.

Anakin shrugged. "Perhaps the same reason I am. She was taken from her home very young. She may be looking for her family. Her story about being a petty bureaucrat is most likely self-defense against the people she destroyed. May be. I can't judge her. I can't say that she is good or bad, but I can say that she does not like the name Skywalker. That much leaked through the wall around her mind. I will give her a chance, I have to." He'd been given a chance. Surely the woman in front of him needed one just as badly.

Luke looked up at his father, than back at Mara Jade. If his father would give her a chance, knowing what he did about her, then how could he not? Somehow, he could not believe Mara Jade was capable of cold-blooded murder, or even shoplifting. He could believe no wrong about her. Force, she was pretty.

.............................................................

Mara's 'aimless' wandering that night had cold, hard purpose behind it. Moving about randomly, she studied the layout of the base and the kinds of defenses it had. Sadly enough there was very little base and the defenses were, in her opinion, pitiful. They couldn't keep Tarkin out if they'd tried. Then again, they had no need for tight security on-planet. The only Imperial presence here was a blackened crater a few miles away and herself. Then again, could she consider herself Imperial? Palpatine's death had removed the only thing holding the Empire together. Already Mara could see the Moffs and Grand Admirals scrambling for land, ships, the loyalty of the soldiers. Anything to grab the throne for themselves. Mara shook her head at her thoughts. You can't be Imperial if you have no Empire. There is nothing to be Imperial about. Not one of those pathetic self-proclaimed princes could hold it together for long. Vader would have made a good ruler. He would have – No. She put a clamp on those thoughts. Vader was doubly a traitor for destroying the only good in the Empire, its leadership. Skywalker was probably allied with the Rebellion for years before he killed Palpatine. That was why they'd accepted him so readily. Then again, it would be in character for Vader to kill the Emperor. He'd forever been changeable as the winds of his native Tatooine. Like it mattered why he'd killed the Emperor. It didn't change the fact that Palpatine was dead.

She hated Skywalker so much. No one had a right to do this to her. No one. Especially not a mechanical traitor. In the space of five minutes, she had gone from having power, prestige, and purpose, to not even having an identity to call her own. Who was Mara Jade? She was the Emperor's Hand, but the Emperor was dead, and a Hand without the body is pointless. She couldn't even find another body to attach to, not that she hadn't thought about it. Few people knew of her existence and most of them had died with the Death Star. Those who survived the super weapon's destruction were zealous to down play any connections they might have had with the Empire. Which didn't include sheltering the Emperor's Hand. She had no roots, no homeworld, no powerbase, nothing. A drifter who had outlived any purpose in her life. For all of that Skywalker deserved to die. And if that still wasn't enough, she was sure she could think of more given time.

A flutter of motion caught her eye. Startled, she whirled to face the intruder. Vader leaned against the wall of the room. His arms hung loosely at his sides in sleep. His head rested on his chest. His black cape caught the slight breeze and caused the motion she'd seen. She could feel the hated presence burning behind the mask. YOU WILL KILL THE SKYWALKER. He was vulnerable, and he was alone. Swiftly, Silently, and Above Suspicion. By the time anyone found out what had happened, she would be long gone, to whatever life she could make for herself.

All her anger, pain, and grief came bubbling out of her. Throwing herself into a flying high kick, she brought her heel crashing into Vader's jaw. The empty helmet caved in rattling off the equally empty armor. Mara's fury threatened to engulf her. He shot, her one shot to be revenged on Skywalker and she had spent it on an empty shell. The black armor embodied the hate of herself. Of course that wasn't Skywalker. Skywalker was all in white now, as if he were trying to bleach the stains of the past with a change of clothes. Well let him try to get clean, she would make sure he had nothing to go back to if the attempt failed. Drawing her blaster from its wrist holster, she vaporized the section of the chest that normally would have killed a man. The armor jumped and with a vicious kick, she caved in the chest piece. With the main part of the armor gone, the entire suit collapsed. Mara stared at the heap for a long moment. She was sweating and breathing hard from the adrenaline flooding her systems. She was more worked up about destroying an empty suit than she had ever been even in the moment of the kill. The small agonies running up her leg warned her that her ankle had been twisted. Kicking durasteel will do that to a body.

"Thank you, Mara," the low growl behind her could only have come from Anakin. The white gauntlet that fell on her shoulder confirmed her instant analysis. She partially turned to look into Anakin's face. After years of not needing to hide his feelings behind a mask of flesh, he was an open book. The expression of true gratitude in his eyes made her sick to her stomach. "I didn't have the strength of mind to do it myself," he explained. "It seemed as though I must look Vader in the face every day, if only to convince myself that he is no longer me." The dreaminess of his Sense was still alert enough that she could not take her critical shot. Angrily she shook off Anakin's hand.

"I wasn't trying to do you any favors, Skywalker," she hissed eyes a roaring inferno. "It was just another reminder of my past." _Which you destroyed,_ she added silently. If Skywalker felt the accusations blazing in her mind, he did not show it. He simply nodded understanding, although his face trumpeted concern.

"Why have you come here, Mara?" he asked suddenly. She slammed her shields into place as a tentative probe reached out to brush her mind.

"To clean off the slate." That much at least was true, and she let Skywalker feel that truth. She felt him retract his probe.

Anakin was at a loss what to do. "Clean off the slate" could have a multitude of meanings and the sense he was getting from Mara was violent. Very violent. He must warn her of the consequences of violence. "Very well, Mara," he whispered, "but watch how you go. I will not let these people suffer because of me." He felt the darkness rise in him as he contemplated what he would do if she hurt his family. The darkness spoke before he could quash it. "Don't make me destroy you, Emperor's Hand. And don't ever forget that I am capable of destruction."

Mara brazenly met his icy glare. "I'm not afraid of you, Vader. I never have been, but I'm not stupid either." She ducked underneath his arm and stalked out the door. Anakin watched her leave, and then returned his attention to the destroyed suit. He picked up the helmet and contemplated it. It was crushed, but still recognizable, like the darkness within him.

"She does not like you, my friend." A familiar voice observed behind him.

Anakin snorted. "Understatement of the century, Master," he responded automatically, then whirled around dropping the helmet as the truth of what he'd just heard sank in. "Obi-Wan!"

The blue-rimmed shadow of his former Master grinned at him. "I told you that you could not destroy me, Anakin."

Anakin fell on his knees before the ghost. "Oh, Obi-Wan, forgive me. I destroyed us all." His eyes teared, and he gazed pleadingly at Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan placed a comforting hand on his Padawan's shoulder, careful not to overshoot and put his hand _through_ Anakin. "There is nothing to forgive, Anakin that I have not already forgiven. The fault is not all yours. You must also forgive me, Anakin. There was so much I could have done and should have done." Obi-Wan's voice grew soft and he no longer spoke directly to Anakin. Instead he mused aloud, "In the end, I am afraid I drove you to darkness."

"You did nothing wrong, Master," Anakin insisted looking up into the face he thought Vader had destroyed. "The fall was mine. The guilt is mine. Your death was Vad – _my_ doing."

Unexpectedly Obi-Wan laughed. "If I told you once, I told you every day, you were going to be the death of me." He gazed solemnly into the pain-stricken eyes of his apprentice. "There is no guilt, Anakin, for what has been forgiven. Keeping guilt beyond its time is as destructive as anger." He had felt the wave of dark that rolled off his friend when threatening the woman. "Anakin, when you fell the first time, I thought you were dead and I grieved for you. Another fall will surely kill you."


	4. Aches and Pains

AN: This chapter has a special dedication. Thank you Kathy Tyers!! Without you, I would have no plot right about now. I will also take this opportunity to apologize for typos in this and other stories, I try to proofread, but I can't catch everything. If you know what I mean, please ignore them.

Thank you **K9** multiple reviews on a story yay!! It will be quite interesting, and can only get better!!

**Princess-Aiel** – I agree completely!! The lack of reviews is a shame.

**Sithspawn-13** – Thank you for you concern about my writing style. I promise to put a lot of thought into every chapter

**KSkywalker1** – I honestly wasn't planning on it, but now I just might consider getting more ghosts involved. Not sure how well it will work, though.

**Jaina Kenobi** – That's what I was going for, appropriate and maybe a little random.

**Nicolae** – When I can.

Keep talking to me! I'm listening.

**Chapter 4: Aches and Pains**

Luke squirmed in his bunk trying to find a restful position. Finally he gave up and got out of bed. He ached all over and couldn't seem to get comfortable. His body protested some massive over-usage. Leia must have driven him harder than he'd thought. He showered, trying as he did so to work out the knots that seemed to have taken the place of his muscles. A real shower, with enough water to cover his body several times over still seemed decadent, but he'd stopped feeling guilty about it after the trip to Mon Calamari. His eyes drifted shut on their own, but his body refused to relax. Force, how long had it been since he'd actually been able to sleep? Not since training with Yoda, he decided. Sure he'd shut down for a couple hours at a stretch somewhere in there, but that wasn't _sleep_, that was crashing. Yesterday - no the day before yesterday, had been the longest day of his life. He hadn't closed his eyes once. The water turned cold, starting him out of his doze. Reluctantly, he turned off the water and toweled himself dry.

Far from relaxing, it seemed like his aches had only increased while he'd showered. Unable to settle, even for a moment, Luke grabbed his lightsaber and headed for the nearest large open space. Unfortunately, the _Falcon_ occupied the area he planned on practicing in. Luke smiled as he heard the shouts and general expressions of anger drifting off the top of the freighter. At least he wasn't the only one awake.

"Hey, Han," he called into the darkness. "What's the problem?"

"Lando, that's the problem!" Han Solo called down. "He swore she wouldn't get a scratch and then goes and sheers off the whole sensor array!"

Luke climbed up the ladder to help his friend inspect the damage to his precious ship. The sensor array was well and truly gone. "Look on the bright side, Han," he commented, reckless in his lack of sleep, "at least it's not a scratch."

"Not a scratch . . . it's a bleeding hole in my ship!" Han fumed.

"C'mon, Han, I'll help you fix it. I know I can fix these kinds of scratches." He grinned impishly, the first time Han had seen him smile like that since . . . well, almost since Alderaan. The kid had grown up way too fast.

Han eyed Luke suspiciously, as if trying to decide if he could trust anyone with the care of his ship again. Ever. Finally he spaced the question and slapped a tool into Luke's hand. "Sure, kid. You're as good with a hydrospanner as any. Have a go." He noted with concern the way Luke winced, the very act of holding a hydrospanner calling reluctant muscles to unwanted effort. Abruptly, his entire body blazed with pain. Drawing on the Force, Luke bashed the pain into submission; he couldn't be weak. Not now. "So," Han inquired casually, "Where you been? I don't think I've seen you for more than an hour since you left for the Second Death Star." He frowned, "Come to think of it I've seen about as much of your sister."

"I've been keeping busy, working with Anakin," Luke admitted. It felt weird referring to the ex-Sith by his first name, but his father had insisted. "He's expanding my Jedi training, you know. Helping me fill some of the stuff that Yoda never had time to teach me." Han made an interested noise. He hadn't known, but he figured the kid needed to connect with his father. Even if that father had been the most evil man in the galaxy, it still didn't change the fact that the kid had a father now. In his musings, Han nearly missed the rest of Luke's statement. "Leia's going to be trained too." _That _made Han sit up and take notice. He should have known that Leia was Force-sensitive, but she was _training_?

"How long is that going to take?" Han asked trying to keep his concern out of his voice. It wouldn't do to let the kid realize just how badly Han had it for his sister. But Yoda had kept Luke locked away on some swamp of a planet for months and even then he hadn't finished.

Luke smiled picking up on the Corellian's worry anyway. He decided to give Han something to think about. "I don't know Han," he said, letting his voice show how thoughtful he was being. "After all, Obi-Wan trained me some before I went to Yoda, and you know how long I was with him. Leia's training could take a year or more." Luke stopped teasing as the anguished look on Han's face told him exactly what the pirate felt about that idea. Boldly, the young Jedi forged on. Han would have to make a move sometime or Leia would spend the rest of her life in romantic limbo. "I'd make the most of the time I have with her now," he suggested gently.

Han's puzzled gaze met Luke's. "I love her, you know," he told the kid. Luke nodded a twinkle in his eye. The Corellian's jaw dropped open as he realized just how much the younger man already knew. "And you're okay with that? With me and your sister?" Han asked uncertainly.

Luke chuckled. "Han, the entire Rebellion knew, and was okay with, you and my sister." Han's face was priceless. It was a load off Han's mind to have finally admitted it to someone besides Leia. Luke turned back to the sensor array, giving the man time to work through his emotions in peace.

Han sat, staring at nothing as he processed what Luke had just revealed. The _entire Rebellion _knew? That was a bit much. After all he hadn't known until . . . Scratch that. He hadn't admitted it to himself until she'd saved him from Jabba. Now that they had both admitted it, he couldn't bear the thought of being cut off from her for months on end. Why did she have to train now? What would he do without her? Why couldn't he go with her while she trained? Could he go with her? Han realized he had automatically assumed that Leia's training would be similar to Luke's experience, isolation on a mud pit and all. But Leia couldn't leave the Rebellion for an unspecified period of time, could she? They needed her as much as he did.

A short intake of air broke Han's thought train and he looked nervously at Luke. The kid's eyes were unfocused and he was trembling. "Hey kid," Han called. Luke turned a contorted face towards him. "Are you alright? You look like you just ate Jabba's bedtime snack."

Luke was decidedly not alright. Suddenly two Hans were talking to him and he tried desperately to focus in the middle where he thought the real Han was standing. He looked down at his hands; all four of them were shaking. Han's concerned query barely registered over the roaring of his pulse in his ears. "I think I need to go, Han," he said uncertainly. "You don't want me working on your ship like this." He rose shakily to his feet and Han helped him get down off the _Falcon_ without hurting himself.

"Go to bed, kid," Han counseled.

Luke nodded dumbly, but could not take the smuggler's advice. He had to get himself back to normal. The only question was, how?

Mara stormed out of the room, leaving Skywalker on his own with the destroyed suit. The base was almost too quiet. What was she going to do now? Mara was a night stalker. While she could be awake during the day, the predator in her was at her deadliest in the shadowed twilight. Unfortunately, most of the Rebellion seemed to be up with the dawn, and down with the sun. Typical. Well, if nothing else was going on, she'd better be alert when something was. And that meant returning to her room and sleeping right about now. She also needed to have a look at her ankle. It would do her no good if she couldn't run when she needed to.

The thrum of a lightsaber cutting through the air nearby sent her to look. The Emperor had taught her how to handle the energy blades, but it had been ages since she'd held or even seen one used. Luke had his lightsaber out and was going through some sort of routine with it. His motions were fluid and graceful, he moved with a practiced, deadly ease that Mara admired. He wasn't that bad to look at either. _Hold it, Jade_, she counseled herself. _He's a means to an ends nothing more._ Now if only she could clear away her doubts about that.

The handsome Jedi finished solo drills and shut down his lightsaber. Mara stepped out of the greenery, clapping, cooing, and generally being the fawning courtesan.

"That was wonderful. Why do you hide that kind of grace?" she asked her green eyes big and soft. Luke refused to answer. He simply blushed and turned to a practice remote he'd picked up. Over his shoulder, Mara saw him flick the power setting to just under dangerous.

"Are you sure you can control it that high?" she asked. She didn't care about the man, but neither did she want to see him hurt. He was, after all, her safe passage into the Rebellion. She frowned. Something didn't feel right about this. She hadn't known Luke for more than a day, but even she could tell he wasn't acting normally. He was calm, and deliberate in all his actions. Obviously there was something wrong. However, the cocky, confident smile that Luke threw her allayed her fears. Still limping slightly, she settled herself to watch.

Luke sighed as the proximity of the petite red-head eased something in him. He felt like he could actually relax now. Smiling at and with himself he set the remote just a hair more powerful and launched it into the air. With a whirr and flash of lights, the remote caught itself on its repulsors. He brought his green blade up between himself and the remote, tracking it with his eyes. Or at least that was what he tried to do. A certain shade of fiery-red hair kept drawing his eyes. Resolutely, he closed them and focused on the droid. He could see the remote through the Force and feel the minute shifts in energy as it prepared to fire. But the sparks of the remote were lost in the raging inferno beyond them. Mara Jade called to him without words asking to be trained, to grow, to explore the light of her being. Under her beguiling influence, he let go of the persistent pain, feeling it shoot through him, electric for a moment, then diminish. How could she do that to him? Loosen the cords of tension and reserve that held his fragile being together? It was as if her presence was a healing balm that never ran out.

The whine of several blaster bolts getting a little too close forced him to concentrate and he blocked the volley easily. He had been distracted and that wasn't good. But he had still managed to block the shots. In the pleasure of the accomplishment, he missed the second round entirely, but dodged all but the last shot, which caught him a glancing blow to the shoulder. Red agony screamed up his arm and into his brain. Force, it felt like his whole arm had come off! No, on second thought, it felt worse. Carefully, he corralled the pain and shoved it, if not out of his mind, then at least to its very edge. He called heavily on the Force to work through the pain, and was rewarded when the third set of bolts bounced harmlessly off his lightsaber. He just had to concentrate. Yeah, right.

Mara admired the young Jedi's physique, the way he moved, but the regard he was giving her with his eyes was disturbing. Those eyes were just plain creepy. She could swear she'd seen them somewhere, looking older and sadder. Luke's eyes held the shadows of what he had seen and the light of the innocent. It was a relief when those changeable blue orbs veiled themselves behind sleepy lids. Free for a moment from the strange compulsion that had laid hold of her, Mara probed her ankle with fingers and mind. She grimaced; the ankle was twisted pretty badly. _I guess I'll be avoiding the medcenter for awhile_, she thought. If the healers got whiff of this, they would insist that she rest for days on end and the last thing she wanted was forced inactivity.

Blaster fire brought her attention back to the young Jedi in front of her. She could tell he was startled, but he blocked the series of bolts. He wasn't so lucky the next time around. It was such a shame really that that finely muscled physique had to suffer the ignominy of an angry red blaster burn across the deltoid. She was mildly concerned by the grimace that creased his features. He showed more pain than a mere blaster bolt should cause. Heck, she'd taken Palpatine's Force-lightning with less of a reaction! Come to think of it, so had he. He admirably collected himself and continued with the practice, actually blocking the next few volleys. _Well, well farmboy, looks like you can actually handle yourself,_ she thought instantly wondering why she called him farmboy. Her appreciative assessment dissipated when a blast caught him unexpectedly in the leg. Luke went down like a rock, twisting to avoid cleaving himself in two with his own blade. A few more bolts were swatted out of the air, until one caught his right hand.

Luke moaned as the rest of the flesh was taken off his artificial hand, his lightsaber falling useless to the ground. The remote didn't stop, unleashing even more lances of agony to spear the overconfident Jedi. He shouldn't have set it so high. All of his pain flared up together and he collapsed.

"_The more that hit you, the more that will."_ Where had that come from? The feminine voice drifted out of the ether, a shadow of a maybe. It beckoned from a comforting pain-free blackness and he gratefully followed.

Mara's dark humor at the brash Jedi getting beaten by a remote vanished when she realized that he was doing nothing to stop the bolts still pounding him. "Luke?" she called. The prone man didn't answer. Unwelcome and unexpected panic gripped her. She was not aware of drawing the hold-out blaster from her wrist and melting the remote with a single, un-aimed shot. In fact she wasn't aware of anything until she found herself kneeling by Luke's head. She grabbed the young man by the shoulder and began to shake him, trying to rouse him. His skin was clammy and he didn't respond. "Luke, wake up," she pleaded. "Come on you sith-spawned idiot wake up!" Desperate, she felt for a pulse at his neck. It was weak and wavering, but there. However, he wasn't breathing. _Shock must have gotten to you, Jedi_. The sentence floated languidly in her otherwise frantic mind as she swept his mouth for obstructions. Finding none, she tilted his tousled head back, took a deep breath and forced a lungful of air into his lax mouth. She kept her mouth over his for a while, making sure she'd imparted every last molecule of oxygen possible to the unconscious man. Or maybe not so unconscious. She was surprised at her own lack of surprise when she raised her head to find a pair of ice-blue eyes regarding her.

"Wow," was all the pilot-turned-Jedi managed to push past his lips, letting out the breath she had just given him with a sigh.

Mara pounded his chest with her fist, only stopping when she saw how he winced every time she made contact. "Don't scare me like that, farmboy!" she yelled. "And why am I calling you farmboy in the first place?"

Luke sat up and infinitesimally raised his shoulders. It hurt to even do that much. "I guess my background still shows. I grew up on a moisture farm on Tatooine. I left the galactic sandbox four years ago to join the Rebellion."

Mara sat back on her heels, "You lived on a desert world, to harvest water?" she asked incredulously.

"Nothing else will grow there, I assure you," he answered. He attempted a smile for her, but it hurt too much to move.

Picking up on his discomfort, Mara gingerly helped him to his feet. "Let's get you to the medcenter."

Luke accepted her support but shook his head at the suggestion. "I'll be fine."

Mara smacked him in the back of the head. Great, now he really hurt all over. "You weren't fine two minutes ago, farmboy. I'm not going anywhere until you get checked out."

"I thought you were going to avoid the medcenter for a few days," he whined.

Mara's brow creased. How could he know she'd just been thinking that? "I never said that. Besides, I probably need to get this ankle checked anyway."

Out of arguments, Luke capitulated and allowed himself to be hauled towards the medcenter.

AN: Apologies for this being so late in coming. Class registration and all that.


	5. Truth be Told

**Sithspawn-13** - Thank you, that sequence had me worried a bit.

**K9** - What? Sith got your tongue?

**AN:** I want everyone reading this to count the number of people I'm thanking here. One . . . two. Very good. That's the number of reviews the last chapter got. That's pathetic. If you don't want to broadcast your comments to the whole world e-mail me personally, but please give me feedback.

Keep talking to me! I'm listening.

**Chapter 5: Truth Be Told**

"Mon Mothma," Leia bowed as the Rebellion leader turned from her conversation with the head of security. "I'm afraid I must request a leave of absence."

"For how long?" the petite Senator asked concerned.

"I don't know," Leia answered her eyes on the floor. "I've just discovered that I am Force-sensitive and I need time to be trained." She finished quickly.

Strangely, Mon Mothma showed only minimal surprise at the statement that had floored Leia when she realized it. "Where will you go?"

Leia shrugged. "Wherever my Jedi Master takes me, I guess." Now that she was faced with all the unknowns concerning her Jedi training, she was seriously considering backing out. She didn't want to leave the Rebellion just when they had a chance of really doing something. Guerrilla tactics would do no good to set up a new government; no one wanted to live under the thumb of terrorists. On the other hand, she couldn't stay around here now that her father was so close. "Hopefully away from the memories of my father. I'm having trouble dealing with them."

Mon Mothma laid her hands on Leia's shoulders. "Alderaan?" she asked simply.

Leia nodded, "Among other things. Bespin. The recent battle." In the back of her mind, Leia knew that they were not referring to the same man. Mon Mothma had known and respected Bail Organa; no one had really known Anakin Skywalker for decades. She felt obliged to explain. "I've just recently encountered my biological father. He's on-base."

"Has he been cleared?" The chief of security for Rebellion High Command spoke up. She was a slight woman, Leia's equal in height and build. She was old enough to be Leia's mother, and many that saw her wrongly believed her shrunken from age due to her wiry frame. But she was strong in both body and mind. Her intensely private nature limited her activities to making sure that security breaches were closed before they even opened. Most of the people who knew her didn't even know her name, and she refused any title except the honorific Mi'Lady.

"No, Mi'Lady, he defected after the battle," Leia informed her.

"How high was he in Imperial Command?" The question followed right on the heels of the young woman's answer.

"Fairly high, Mi'Lady."

The older woman nodded. "Good. I need to speak with him. There are rumors going through the base that Vader survived the recent battle and is on-planet somewhere. If those are true, he poses a serious security risk. Any new recruits should be debriefed as soon as possible."

Now or never. "About that, Mi'Lady-" That was as far as Leia got before Anakin burst into the room.

"Leia," he began immediately, "do you know where Luke is? I have a bad feeling that something is wrong with him." He stopped moving closer when he noticed Mon Mothma and the chief of security.

"Leia, who is this?" Mon Mothma asked with a regal calm that Leia envied.

Leia straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath. "Mon Mothma, Mi'Lady, allow me to present my father, A-"

"Anakin?" Mi'Lady stepped around Mon Mothma for a closer look. Anakin's eyes went wide when she stepped into full view. "Anakin _Skywalker_?" Her tone was disbelieving, though her face glowed with joy.

"Padmé?" Anakin asked in the same voice. As if in a dream, he stepped forword, reaching out a white-gloved hand towards the face of the chief of security. Leia caught the tail end of a memory flooding over her.

_A young woman_, her mother Leia realized,_ stepped out from the crowd, eclipsing the Queen. She was small, but still larger than the nine-year-old-boy that was watching. _She looked like a younger version of the Rebellion's chief of security._ "Your Honor," the girl called. "I am Queen Amidala of the Naboo . . ."_

Anakin's fingers brushed Mi'Lady's cheek and he pulled back. "Forgive me, Sabé, it has been so long."

" _. . . This is my decoy. My protection." The girl turned giving Anakin_ and therefore Leia,_ a better view of her face. "My loyal bodyguard."_ From this new angle Leia noticed the subtle differences between her mother and Mi'Lady. On second look, the girl dressed as the Queen looked closer to the chief of security.

Coming back to reality, Leia realized that Mi'Lady, whom Anakin had called Sabé, was chattering excitedly, releasing in a few minutes what would have otherwise been her normal quota for a day's worth of talking.

" . . . One look at Luke and I knew he was your son, and of course Leia is Padmé's daughter, but twins!" She giggled a sound that had never before escaped her lips. "I always thought you and Padmé should have gotten together; I didn't know you really had. At least that explains why she tracked Obi-Wan's movements so closely; I was getting a little jealous." She suddenly went serious. "I'm sorry about Obi-Wan, Anakin. Truly I am. And poor Padmé, what I wouldn't give to have her standing here with you instead of me."

Anakin nodded sadly. "I am glad she left when she did though. She was spared the worst of Vader's rampages."

Sabé's face went hard. "Speaking of that monster, you must be careful Anakin. There are rumors that Vader is on-planet, and he may come after you to finish what he started. Obi-Wan told me you were dead and that Vader killed you." There was a question in her eyes that needed a truthful answer.

"In a real sense, I was and he did. But I don't think he's a major threat anymore," he tried to reassure Sabé, but her bodyguard training kicked in.

"What do you mean 'not a major threat'? Anakin, he nearly killed you; I'm not taking the chance that he'll show up and finish the job." She would have continued, but at that moment, the doors opened again.

Luke and Mara entered. Luke's arm was thrown across her shoulders and Mara wrapped his waist in a tight hug, but despite the positioning, it was fairly obvious to Leia that Luke was supporting Mara and not the other way around. The red-haired diplomat was heavily favoring her right foot. Mara cast about, her gaze finally resting on Anakin. "Hey, Vader!" she called. "A little help here?"

"Vader?" Sabé repeated incredulous. "You mean, you've been . . . all this time . . ." Her confusion cleared to return as steely determination. "We will talk of this later, Anakin. Go help them."

Anakin had obviously come to the same conclusion as Leia, because he immediately stalked over to the two young warriors and scooped Mara into his arms. She struggled and beat her fists against the hard plate of his armor. "Not me you overgrown droid," she protested. "He's the one that needs help," she indicated Luke.

"But you're the one limping," Anakin countered. "I don't want you to be in pain."

For the space of a heartbeat Mara's face went deathly rigid. Her eyes froze into cold hard gems without a life of their own. "Then drop dead, Skywalker," she hissed for him alone to hear.

Anakin's response was to hold her closer to him so she couldn't flail out of his arms. "Don't think I haven't considered it," he whispered in her ear, "but it would break Luke's heart."

XXXXXXXXXXX

Mar'isu stepped through the medcenter doors, and straight into an argument.

"I'm telling you, this man stopped breathing!" Even leaning on a crutch, Mara Jade was a force to be reckoned with. She jabbed her finger in Luke's direction, never taking her eyes off the medic squirming in front of her.

The man craned his head over to Luke, who shrugged his shoulders in response to the unasked question. "He's breathing now," the orderly observed refocusing on Mara.

"And it doesn't worry you that five minutes ago he wasn't?" Mara responded.

The medic held his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "Ma'am, I don't know how to handle this. When the Death Star cooked the Med. Frigate, I got pulled off tech support to staff a center. I'm here because I took some First Aid training in my off time. You tell me what to do and I'll do it, but I'm not a 2-1B, and the Commander doesn't look like there's anything wrong with him." Luke shifted uneasily at the last statement, but remained silent.

Mara gritted her teeth her face going rigid and menacing. Through the Force, Mar'isu felt the darker powers gathering about the young woman, but they were twisted somehow, stained with the Light of good intentions and a pure soul. A Force-probe stabbed through the haze around Mara and winged its way to Luke, cataloguing old injuries and new weaknesses, searching for the key to release his injuries. The strength and focus of the probe were instinctive to the point that Mar'isu doubted Mara herself was aware of the potential she carried.

"Check his blood." Mara's lips moved, but her voice seemed to come from far away. Here eyes were unfocused, staring into the far distance of a room that ended ten feet away from her. Mar'isu did her own quick check and found Mara's recommendation to be sound.

"What?" the poor man asked his nervous glance twitching convulsively between Luke and the cabinet that held the needles. "I don't think that's such a good idea . . ."

Mara's eyes refocused on her immediate surroundings. "You heard me take a blood sample," she snapped. The medic shook his head and refused to move fear spilling out of him. With a huff, Mara stormed over to the cabinet and pulled out a sample card and lancelet. "Give me your arm, farmboy."

Luke pulled his shoulder out of reach. "Why?" He was almost as nervous as the medic.

"You're not leaving until you've been checked out, that's why." With practiced ease, Mara reached out and caught his upper arm in an iron grip. Luke struggled more than she thought necessary, but could not escape her. A quick thrust and she had the blood sample she needed and was feeding it into the analyzer. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" she asked mock-sweetly.

"Yeah," Luke nearly shouted his eyes wide and frightened. He was staring at nothing, his eyes darting wildly around in the throes of panic. Instruments began to rattle on their trays. Mar'isu acted quickly, reaching out through the Force to envelop the terrified Jedi with all the peace and security she held within her. Slowly Luke's eyes refocused on Mara who was still holding his arm. "Sorry," he apologized to her still panting in the aftereffects of his fear. "Vader caught me once, right after Yavin. Since then . . . needles aren't my thing."

Mara shuddered the way a sheltered bureaucrat should. "I've heard stories. How high did you get?"

Luke looked up at Mara various scars suddenly painfully obvious on his face. "The very highest and then some."

Mara's eyes went wide. The highest level of torture wasn't supposed to leave a sane man behind, much less one who could still fight. "Sorry I asked."

Luke shook his head. "Don't be. I'm not." The analyzer beeped and the shadow passed from his face. "So, what's wrong with me, Doctor?" His tone was light; he was trying to forget the past.

Mara glanced down at the readout and frowned. "I really don't know," she confessed. She looked up at Mar'isu. "Master Jedi?" Mar'isu stepped around her to read over Mara's shoulder.

"I've never seen anything like this." Her single lek twitched in confusion. "Perhaps a full-body scan would help?" The suggestion was more a question than anything else.

Mara shrugged dropping the analysis datapad onto the counter. "Couldn't hurt." She walked over to Luke and gently pulled on his sleeve. "Could you step behind the panel, sir?" She imitated a Two-one bee's distinctive buzzing voice eliciting a smile from Luke. Stiffly, he stood and made his way behind the scanner.

"Whoa," the medic leapt from where he'd been casually leaning against the counter perusing Luke's blood work. "Freeze the holo." Pushing Mara aside, he fiddled with some controls on the scanner, bringing the skeletal scan into sharp focus. "That's what I thought. Massive calcification, microseizures. You've had double vision recently, right?" the medic called over the top of the scanner. Luke grunted and uneasy affirmative. The tech gave a final knowing bob of his head. "So, Commander, when were you zapped?"

"Zapped?" Luke repeated not understanding the question.

"You know, large amounts of energy running through the semi-conductor that is the human body?" The tech pantomimed repeated high-voltage shocks in an attempt to communicate his meaning. Mara frowned, wondering why the action seemed familiar. "It's nothing to be ashamed of, the junior techs manage to fry themselves once a shift until they learn to stay away from the energy relays."

"What's happening to me?" Luke asked, still not understanding what the man in front of him was babbling about.

"Whatever fried you, it set off a chain reaction that has your bones sucking the calcium from your blood. You kind of need the calcium ions for other stuff in your body, like muscle contractions. So your bones are going all spiky while your muscles loose any sense of rhythm." The medic continued hastily as Luke's blue eyes went wide. "You've gotten a bad jolt, but it's nothing to be worried about, provided you get treatment quickly. It's the quickly part that worries me now, so I repeat, when were you zapped?"

Suddenly, Mara blundered back into the memory. _The Emperor lifted his hands, blue lightning spraying from his claws to strike his assailants. The stranger, Luke, dropped like a rock and began to convulse, but Vader kept coming. Desperately, Palpatine shifted most of his attention to the Dark Lord. In the respite, Luke once again mastered his body, joining his erstwhile enemy against a common foe._ YOU WILL KILL THE SKYWALKER. . . .

"Two days," Mara answered for Luke. Three pairs of confused eyes focused on her. "I saw it," she explained quickly. Only Luke continued to stare at her. As well he might, she reasoned, only he knew she wasn't there.

"Well, you're in luck, Commander, if you'd waited much longer, I would have been unable to help. As it is, I know exactly what you need. Now, do you want the injections, or bacta treatment?"

Luke was making his way back to the examination table when the question slammed into him. His steps faltered and his eyes flashed between the needle and the tank, both eliciting sharp waves of terror and claustrophobia.

"I can knock you out for the injections if you want." The medic offered. "Just one prick and you'll be fine. Bacta won't hurt like the meds will, but you'd have to stay in the tank for a while."

Choosing the less traumatic option, Luke gestured to the cabinet full of needles. The bed dipped as Luke sank onto it, visibly bracing himself for the minute pain of a hypodermic sliding under his flesh. Mara moved to Luke's side, watching the medic as he drew the anesthesia and Luke caught the redhead around the waist, cringing like a child as the sharp point of pain jabbed into his back. Surprisingly, the panic he expected refused to manifest itself, his tension leeching from him through his contact with Mara. He held her closer, as if greater surface area could speed up the diffusion to worry from his body. He would be all right. Mara was there, he would be all right.

"You might want to peel him off you before I start this," the medic was grinning at the way his unconscious charge continued to cling to the fiery diplomat who had brought him in. "Unless you like the idea of getting squeezed in two."

"He's going to sleep," Mara commented, fishing for an explanation while gently removing Luke's death grip around her waist.

"Yeah, but this ain't gonna feel pretty." The medic plunged the first of five injections into Luke's deltoid. The young Jedi cried out even in his sleep and grabbed for the nearest comfort he could find, Mara Jade's hand. Luke murmured in disturbed tones until Mara pulled up a chair next to him and began stroking his hand.

"I'll stay with him."


End file.
